Nauru facilities 'underprepared, underfunded': Morrison

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has acknowledged that the detention centre facilities on Nauru have been left in an "underprepared" and "underfunded" state as asylum seeker families and children continue to be sent there.

Treasurer Scott Morrison insists the budget is on a trajectory towards balance not greater deficits. (AAP)

Minister Morrison has blamed the previous government for leaving Nauru refugee facilities “underprepared” and “underfunded”.

At the weekly Operation Sovereign Borders briefing, Scott Morrison stated that the government will continue to transfer families and children to Nauru.

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This decision ignores concerns raised in a recent report from the UNHCR, which questioned the legality of Australia’s approach to asylum seekers and advised the Government to cease such transfers immediately.

"The previous government had left this [RPC3, where families and single women are held] as an underprepared facility and an underfunded facility," he told reporters in Sydney.

"Over the last 11 weeks, we’ve been identifying and addressing those infrastructure needs for families over there…and we’re getting on with the job."

Commander of Operation Sovereign Borders, Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, updated the briefing on the number of asylum seekers being held offshore, stating there were currently 1,140 people on Manus Island, 660 at Nauru, and 2,191 on Christmas Island.

The revelations about underprepared facilities come on the back of News Ltd reports that a new high security “removal centre” will be built to house asylum seekers whose refugee claims were found to be invalid.